The Lee County Legislative Delegation (House and Senate members representing Southwest Florida) met on Thursday and agreed to move to a referendum a vote to merge the Fort Myers Beach Mosquito Control District with the Lee County Mosquito Control District.
Representative Adam Botana is behind the merger. He believes the Lee County Mosquito Control District would do a better job for the residents of the beach than the services being provided now by the Fort Myers Beach Mosquito Control District, where, Botana says, “they don’t even have a website so you can contact someone.” The top result when you type Fort Myers Beach Mosquito Control District results in the Lee County site. Botana has also been trying to find ways to save taxpayers he represents money by merging redundant special districts.
David Hoel is the Executive Director of The Lee County Mosquito Control District. He spoke in support of allowing voters to decide on the merger. He said Lee County is already doing all of the adult mosquito surveillance and aerial service for Fort Myers Beach. “It just makes sense to combine the two. We can step in there today and pick up these operations. We could hire that entire crew…of two people. Let’s let the people make that decision.”…